Until Next Time
by shigureisasexybeast
Summary: Weeks of horror, sleep deprivation and constant stress do eventually get to even the strongest of people. Slight Leon/Luis if you squint, but doesn't have to be seen that way.


Leon had told her that he was okay, had sounded convincing when he'd said it too, even to himself. But once the connection was broken and the phone returned to a small pouch in his belt, he could think of no way and no reason to keep up the façade and had seemed almost to wilt on the spot, staggering backwards a few steps before he caught himself on the wall behind him, hand leaving a small smear of blood as he slid down to a sitting position, drawing his knees up to his chest as if in an attempt to make himself seem as small as possible. What good it would do him in his current situation though, his foggy brain wasn't quite sure of yet, but he was fairly certain that it was near to nothing.

How long he sat there, he wasn't sure, listening to the clouds break beyond the dirty, broken glass of the window a few feet away and the rain begin to pound against the side of the rotting wood, surprising him that in the fact that it didn't collapse entirely under the force of the jaw-rattling thunder. He knew that he wasn't safe here, but this far into things he didn't seem to be safe anywhere, so when everything came down to it, he really didn't see the point in trying to hide anymore. With a small sigh, the blond dropped his head into his hands, suppressing a small shudder as his mind reeled him back to his dreams, the parasite, the virus…it had all been so real, was still real. And he knew that it hadn't just been a side effect of extreme sleep-deprivation and the constant stress and horror of the past few weeks, it was his body, what they had planted inside of him, and had alerted him to the fact that soon he would have to start fighting, simply to keep who he was, not to give over, not to become one of _them_.

Still lost in his decidedly less than pleasant thoughts, Leon froze as the sound of rusty hinges reached his ears, but still he sat, unable, or unwilling to protect himself any longer from whatever hell awaited him this time as the door squeaked open. Not even bothering to look up at the quiet stream of muffled Spanish, he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting, as the footsteps drew nearer, heavy breathing moving from one corner to the next as if its owner was checking for immediate safety hazards or death threats in this small, rundown shed of theirs. And they had obviously found the most obvious one, as the person came to a stop directly in front of him. Their next words however, were completely unexpected, to say the least. Not only were they in a language he could actually understand, but the voice was familiar, accompanied by an equally well known chuckle,

"You look like shit, amigo." The blond raised his head then, bloodshot gray eyes slitted against a sudden flash of lightning that lit up the grimy window pane, lighting up the newcomer's tanned face as he dropped to his knees in front of him, eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly, to which Leon had only one response.

"Luis," His voice was rough, almost hopeless sounding, the exact opposite from the competent, government hired man he had been only a number of hours before, "What're you do-" He broke off however, as a new set of footsteps sounded from just outside the door, followed by a low moan. He had gotten lucky the first time, and as quoted from the laws of chance, he most definitely would _not _be treated with the same good fortune twice in a row. Luis cursed softly, hand flying to the smooth metal of the gun strapped to his side, throwing a glance at the door from over his shoulder. The blond merely shook his head, moving an arm to rest an elbow on his knee and letting his forehead drop to rest against his bruised knuckles.

The dark haired man turned back to him for a fraction of a second, his senses still on red alert as he took in the other's defeated form, already alerted to his unwillingness to fight any longer, and knowing that depending on how many of them there were, he had no idea if he would be able to hold them all off himself for any given amount of time. It occurred to him then, that perhaps their best bet would be to simply sit there, not move a muscle, and pray to who or whatever they felt would serve them best that they wouldn't be noticed. And by the looks of things, the American didn't appear to be up to much more physical activity in their plan of action. Moving forward a fraction of an inch, Luis reached around the other man to rest both hands on the wall on either side of him, pressing them both back against the age-old dirt and grime in an admittedly half-hearted attempt to hide them from sight of the doorway.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, moved or breathed, frozen to the spot as the footsteps continued to move around, just outside. There was another loud crash of thunder, and Leon let his throbbing head drop forward to rest against the Spaniard's well muscled shoulder, surprised, and the other equally so, that he couldn't hear his sporadic heartbeat in their close proximity. After what seemed like a matter of minutes, but very well could have been hours, the blond noticed that he could in fact hear; or rather _feel_ Luis' pulse racing through his veins, the adrenaline pumping through his body beneath Leon's cheek.

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This isn't finished yet, hence the abrupt cut off. I have a vague idea of how to continue, but until i get that done I thought i'd get it out here and see what the public opinion was. XD

BTW, thank you so much for all the lovely reviews so far. I 3 feedback bad or good. :)

--Paddy


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